The Meaning of Hosea 7:7 Explained

Hosea 7:7

KJV: They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

YLT: All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.

Darby: They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

ASV: They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

They are all hot  as an oven,  and have devoured  their judges;  all their kings  are fallen:  [there is] none among them that calleth  unto me. 

What does Hosea 7:7 Mean?

Verse Meaning

All of Israel"s past kings had fallen. All the Israelite kings who followed Jeroboam II suffered assassination except Menahem and Hoshea (cf. 2 Kings 17:3-6). The Israelites murdered their leaders leaving themselves like a ship without a rudder. A continuing dynasty, as existed in Judah, never succeeded in the North. The reason was that none of the Israelites sought the Lord. Since this prophecy is undated we do not know when Hosea gave it, but it must have been during the tumultuous times when Israel"s final kings reigned (ca752-722 B.C.).
"So blinded had the people become that they did not realize that even though their kings had been of their own making, in destroying them they were destroying God"s order ( Romans 13:1)." [1]
"Like every revolutionary state that has no faith in anything beyond itself, Israel was burning up in its own anger." [2]

Context Summary

Hosea 7:1-16 - Iniquity Uncovered
The last clause of the previous chapter belongs to this. God desired to turn aside the captivity of His people and to heal Israel, but His pleading was unavailing because of their inveterate sin. This evil-doing witnessed against them, Hosea 7:2. Their passions did not need incitement, just as an oven retains its heat without the baker's continued attention. The royal birthday was celebrated with drunken orgies, and the national religion had become a confused mixture of Gentile superstition and the old Hebrew faith. In this Israel resembled a cake not turned-crisp on one side, sour and uneatable on the other, Hosea 7:8.
What a searching suggestion comes in Hosea 7:9! Can it be that strangers have been stealing away our strength, without our realizing that deterioration is creeping steadily through our religious life? Silently the frosty air steals the warmth from boiling water; silently the fungus pitches its tent in the autumn woods; silently old age fastens on the stalwart frame. Thus also our spiritual strength declines, unless we watch and pray; and when it ebbs away, we become foolish as the dove which flies straight into the snare, and useless as the deceitful bow which turns aside in the archer's hand, Hosea 7:11; Hosea 7:16. [source]

Chapter Summary: Hosea 7

1  A reproof of manifold sins
11  God's wrath against them for their hypocrisy

What do the individual words in Hosea 7:7 mean?

All they are hot like an oven and have devoured - their judges all their kings have fallen None calls among them upon Me
כֻּלָּ֤ם יֵחַ֙מּוּ֙ כַּתַּנּ֔וּר וְאָכְל֖וּ אֶת־ שֹֽׁפְטֵיהֶ֑ם כָּל־ מַלְכֵיהֶ֣ם נָפָ֔לוּ אֵין־ קֹרֵ֥א בָהֶ֖ם אֵלָֽי

יֵחַ֙מּוּ֙  they  are  hot 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: חָמַם  
Sense: to be hot, become warm.
כַּתַּנּ֔וּר  like  an  oven 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, common singular
Root: תַּנּוּר  
Sense: furnace, oven, fire-pot, (portable) stove.
וְאָכְל֖וּ  and  have  devoured 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: אָכַל  
Sense: to eat, devour, burn up, feed.
אֶת־  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
שֹֽׁפְטֵיהֶ֑ם  their  judges 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׁפַט  
Sense: to judge, govern, vindicate, punish.
מַלְכֵיהֶ֣ם  their  kings 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: מֶלֶךְ 
Sense: king.
נָפָ֔לוּ  have  fallen 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: נָפַל  
Sense: to fall, lie, be cast down, fail.
אֵין־  None 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
קֹרֵ֥א  calls 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: קָרָא  
Sense: to call, call out, recite, read, cry out, proclaim.
בָהֶ֖ם  among  them 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine plural
אֵלָֽי  upon  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).